The First Legendary Beast Master

The sound of crashing through the brush and long grass alerted everyone that they weren't going to have to go looking for the spawn, it had already found them.

And the moment that Karl saw what they were facing, he knew that Hawk was right.

This was food.

Giant crabs, with a nearly circular flat-topped shell, and two metres tall, to be precise.

Their colouration was all wrong for where they had ended up in the grasslands, and the bright oranges and greens were immediately recognizable, but the creatures were incredibly fast, and every bit as large as Rae.

Because the spawn had just started, they hadn't had time to gather, so what the group was facing was only three Overlord Ranked crabs. But the crabs didn't seem to care about the disparity, and they were charging straight at Thor.

The thought confused him. Did they think that he was the biggest threat because of his size? Or did they think that they could defeat and eat him?

Both were incorrect assumptions, and didn't bode well for the intelligence of their targets. But they did at least hesitate for a moment when Ophelia transformed.

She was covered in fur, not hard scales, and nearly as large as Thor was. However, the crabs still continued to charge for the Behemoth, snapping their claws as their legs clattered with their eagerness to reach him.

Only when they were twenty metres away did they begin their attack, sending powerful jets of water towards Thor, while Rae prepared to pounce.

The crabs worked well together, and the streams all hit the same spot on Thor's armour. But that made little difference with [Eternal Lightning] active, and the team charged into battle.

Dana's golems quickly isolated one of the targets, pulling it away so she could face it alone, while Ophelia worked with Nachtia, who was in dragon form, but on the ground.

The two were similar in overall size, though Nachtia was twice as long, and not nearly as tall as the Dire Bear. Both were much larger than the crabs, and it was almost comical watching them pin down and pull apart the monsters.

Karl could almost hear them salivating.

The final one continued its assault on Thor until Rae arrived and cleanly punctured a forward spot on its shell, killing it cleanly with little damage. Her long, armoured forelimbs were perfect for the job, as they could get deep enough for a clean kill without ruining any of the potentially edible portions of the crab.

{Sorry about your luck, Hawk. We're keeping this one.} Nachtia called, unsure where Hawk was at that moment.

The gigantic Thunderbird had a better Crab Hunting method.

He had gone to find another group, and simply grabbed one by the shell and flew into the air, intending to slice it apart. The crabs couldn't reach the top of themselves, and it seemed brilliant, until he got a jet of magical water in the face.

Lifting them was not the best way.

[Rend] to the rescue.

Hawk cut into what he hoped was the head section with [Rend], coated in Ghostfire, and the crab died after only a few hits.

That worked much better.

After making sure it was dead, Hawk tossed it in his space for later and began to bombard the others from a distance where he could dodge the return fire.

[Are we still working? We don't have to keep working, do we?] Tian asked hopefully.

[What did you have in mind?] Karl replied.

[I can make a big pot with a lid, and we can have crab for lunch. Mom showed me how, she loved crab.] The tiny fox replied.

"Crab dinner anyone?" Karl asked.

Nachtia paused her examination of the dead crab and nodded eagerly.

{We need a plan.} She agreed.

Tian created a large pot with [Earth Manipulation], on stands to create a fire under it.

Catching on quickly, Remi filled it halfway up with water, and Rae tossed her dead crab in it.

Lotus had plenty of spices, and Tessa started a pot full of rice to go with the crab.

Hawk returned to his hunt, slowly adding more crabs to the pile and organizing his ingredients.

[I need to make a donation soon. I've got too much outdated food.] Hawk informed Karl in a serious tone.

[Oh?]

Hawk nodded gravely. [Look at all this. It's delicious, but Royal Rank and lower. I don't need nearly that many snacks. The more powerful I get, the less I need to eat, and it's all piling up.]

Karl chuckled. The bird's space looked like a supermarket meat section.

[I need the room for new things.]

[Alright. The next village that we come across, I will make a deal to trade them a lot of meat from you. You can transfer some to the Guild House storage as well.]

Hawk made a keening laugh. [The storage room at the Guild House is full already. They've got enough to last them a year.]

They really did need to start cleaning out Hawk's space, then.

The water was already boiling for their crab stew, and Lotus was happily adding diced potatoes and carrots to what smelled like a lemongrass curry base.

"Do you think that this will pull the other groups of crabs to us?" Ophelia asked as she settled a blanket on the grass.

"Hopefully? It would let us stock up without going hunting them. Hawk is already working on clearing some of them out, but as he's at the Overlord Rank, the same as them, it takes a bit to safely eliminate them alone.

In a group, we can take care of them in seconds. Especially if we're not trying to save the corpses." Karl explained.

That sounded like a massive waste to everyone, and not just the food obsessed Hawk.

The wonder that was crab stew was enough to end all thoughts of productivity.

The smell of spices and crabs together was wafting away on the wind, filling every breath that they took, and Karl knew that there would be no more working done today, even if they were attacked.

The ladies would just ask him to kill another for the pot.